(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates broadly to the collection of recyclables and more particularly to the provision of high volume yet elegant appearing containers that are paired together to form a single free-standing unit, convertible, if desired, to single units for mounting against another surface.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
During the last two or three decades the public collection of recyclables such as cans of various compositions, glass bottles, plastics, paper products and other nominal waste materials and particularly waste packaging materials which can be recycled has come more and more to the fore. Public bodies such as municipalities, state and federal parks and other public bodies as well as corporate entities such as large companies and the like have undertaken to provide recycling and refuse receivers in public places to encourage the public to both dispose of their refuse and to aid in the collection of recyclables for further processing.
At one time, the common public container for all kinds of waste materials was the ubiquitous heavy wire-mesh container. Such containers were fairly durable due to their heavy construction plus a certain degree of resiliency or bendability conferred by the open mesh wire construction. Such containers, however, have the disadvantage that the contents are exposed to public view and are frequently objectionable to many members of the public. In more recent years, various solid containers such as, in many cases, concrete containers and the like have been substituted for the former wire-mesh containers, although wire-mesh containers are still used, particularly where aesthetics is not a factor. While such concrete and the like containers are fairly durable and in many cases, particularly when they have an exterior surface of small decorative stones or the like, not unattractive, they are in many cases both difficult to empty and also expensive. Generally, solid containers made of thin coated metal or even durable plastic, including heavy plastic materials, are fairly economical and easy to handle, but objectionable to many people simply because they look like "garbage cans." They are also often subject to vandalism, since they can be easily picked up, knocked over and otherwise mishandled, in which case the metal tends to bend and flake off its coating, after which it becomes subject to corrosion. Plastic containers, in addition, can usually be fairly easily cracked or otherwise damaged when attacked by a determined vandal.
Within the last twenty years, a type of container having a decorative exterior composed originally of wood slats to give it a rustic appearance and more recently of plastic slats which look like wood or similar materials have come into use, particularly in upscale locations such as in shopping centers, public parks, the interior of large buildings and other places where it is desired to have a trash or recycling receptacle in plain sight, but the appearance of an ordinary trash receptacle or garbage may be unacceptable. The provision of vertical wooden slats or artificial material slats having the appearance of wood over a cylindrical receptacle is particularly desirable because of the rustic appearance provided plus the ease of applying a vertical slat to the exterior of a cylindrical container, so long as the slat is maintained longitudinally aligned with the length of the cylinder. As indicated above, such receptacles have been in use for about two and a half decades and have been extremely popular for about a decade and a half. Such receptacles have been made in various ways including the attachment of the rustic slats on the outside of an ordinary trash can or barrel as well as the provision of a cylindrically shaped receptacle by the use of various internal supporting means such as structural rings and the like to reinforce the other slats so that the combination of the slats and the rings forms their own receptacle. If adequately reinforced internally, such slatted exterior ring-reinforced type containers have proved reasonably strong and durable.
Within the last several years a new type of container or receptacle having a slatted exterior has come into use. This By type of container or receptacle is provided with a slanted top rather than a flat top, resulting in a particularly attractive design. Furthermore, when such slatted receptacles are arranged around a central unifying post, a particularly attractive and aesthetically pleasing arrangement is provided. Such an arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Design Patent 331,824 issued Dec. 15, 1992. The initial construction of the new slanted top slatted receptacles was effected by fastening slats with threaded fasteners to the exterior of an ordinary steel barrel with the fastening passing into the external barrel hoops on such barrel. The internal steel barrel formed a strong construction for the container itself and the slatted exterior with attached differential length slats provided a pleasing appearance to the exterior. When a lid was desired, a flat lid was merely placed in the top supported by internal tabs spaced, usually at four locations, on the interior of the slats. The top could either be supported in a horizontal position or preferably was slanted to conform more or less with the top of the receptacle. Unfortunately, while the described arrangement provided a strong lower section to the receptacle, the upper slanted portion was left essentially unsupported, particularly with respect to the longer or higher slats and there was, furthermore, no satisfactory way to securely attach the top to the receptacle.
An oval reinforcing or structural ring was developed to reinforce the upper portion of these slanted top slatted receptacles and more recently flat topped slatted receptacles have come into use. Particularly where these are provided with the present inventor's method for bowing the slats of the receptacles either inwardly or outwardly to a slight degree to provide a more pleasing outline, these flat topped receptacles have met with much favor in the market. The tops of these receptacles can be locked and are quite secure against vandals and the like.
One difficulty with a receptacle in which the top must be removed to remove the trash and recyclables collected therein is that in larger sizes of receptacles it is difficult to remove such materials, usually collected within the receptacle in plastic bags or separate thinner plastic containers, through the top of the plastic slatted container even with the entire top or lid removed. The larger the receptacle, or, more especially, the higher the receptacle, the more difficult such removal becomes. Yet it is frequently desirable to make such slatted receptacles higher rather than wider to increase the capacity, since in this way the receptacles take up less floor space. One solution to the removal of the contents of receptacles from the top is to remove such contents from the sides through a door or opening in the side. However, this has not proved to be a really satisfactory solution, because the provision of a side door in a slatted structure is difficult and expensive to implement and the person removing the contents is still forced to work from a cramped position and there then tends in addition to be wasted space in the upper portion of the receptacle.
There has been a need, therefore, to provide a recycling and refuse container from which collections of waste and recyclables can be removed easily and efficiently while still providing an attractive, strong, and damage resistant receptacle assembly. The present invention provides such an improved receptacle by providing in a principal embodiment a pair of adjacent half oval (which includes the usual half round) slatted receptacles movably mounted upon a support or stand in face to face position. Each receptacle has an open side where the two receptacles abut each other or the stand upon which stand or support plastic trash bags or the like can be hung or supported. When access is desired to the plastic containers, the slatted receptacles are pivoted from over such containers which can easily thereupon be accessed and removed for disposal.